Doesn’t it just drive you crazy whenever you see someone that refuses to accept reality? Regardless of who it is, seeing someone who refuses to accept what should be deemed irrefutably obvious is something that could drive even the most sensible person completely nuts (if only temporarily so).
If you interact with as many people as often as I do on a face-to-face basis, you’ve probably come across your share of folks who simply refuse to accept what is evident.
As a brand director, there are countless things that I love about the wonderful world of marketing—particularly helping startups build brands that go on to become powerhouses in their respective industries.
However, above all, the one thing about marketing that absolutely frustrates me the most is when brands and companies purposely dismiss the realities of what actually appeals to contemporary culture—yet still expect consumers within the culture to support their brand.
The cause of the disconnect
It’s no coincidence that many of the most successful companies in the world have people from diverse backgrounds employed within their organization. People of different age groups, ethnic & social backgrounds, and sexes—all contribute towards making a company as culturally conscious as possible.
As a result, creativity and great ideas that resonate with consumers often become much more abundant and reflective of a company’s diversity. Especially when that diversity is represented in the boardroom and could have an influence on important decisions that will typically determine the direction of the company or the brand.
Brands that lack diversity often make the mistake of believing that their products or services are so great—it doesn’t matter if their brand is connected to culture or not because all their marketing team has to do is present their product to the public and voilà—consumers within the culture will go on to become fans of the brand.
But as many CMOs have discovered the hard way, no brand, regardless of how massive a marketing budget—can spend their way into making their products or services hot within the culture—if their brand itself isn’t connected to the culture.
Simply having a great product or service certainly isn’t enough to command the support of consumers within the culture. Yet even today, to their detriment—many brands still use that failing formula with their approach towards marketing.
Why the disconnect will cost your brand customers
Whether it’s politicians, spiritual leaders, or even celebrities—people follow those who they can relate to. Think about it, how many times during an election cycle have you seen politicians seeking office travel to certain regions and habituate their appearance and lingo in order to fit in with the people from that particular area?
The reason why they do that is simple, those politicians realize that most people are far more inclined to support people that they can relate to (many entertainers do this as well, e.g., ‘Larry The Cable Guy’).
People also support brands for those very same reasons. Sure, consumers could pay for a product or service from a brand that they have no emotional attachment to. But in order for the consumer to become a fan or supporter of your brand—he must first relate to it. And that is especially true when it comes to consumers within contemporary culture.
Today’s consumers within the culture, Millennials and Gen Zers in particular, only support brands that represent their cultural, aspirational, and social interests. And if your brand fails to do that—they will not lend their support to it.
The solution
If your brand aims to appeal to consumers within the culture, your brand must first understand their interests. Which begins by understanding contemporary culture. At Decryption, our motto is to, “Connect via Culture.” Which means our mission is to connect your startup to consumers by connecting your brand to contemporary culture.
We specialize in helping startups appeal to consumers by utilizing our understanding of contemporary culture to provide your startup the brand strategies, messaging, tone, imagery, along with the content and social media marketing services that will help your startup build a connection with consumers within the culture.
Contact us to schedule a call so we can discuss just how your startup could become a Decryption client and together—we'll make sure that your brand connects with consumers via culture.